wii sports resort

No surprise here. I had a slight inkling that Nintendo’s Wii Sports Resort would be selling like hotcakes, and the recent figure of more than 500,000 sold proves that to be true. That’s a lot of Wii MotionPlus accessories and discs. It also could be good for fans of Zelda. A while back at E3, Shigeru Miyamoto hinted that a new Legend of Zelda may support the peripheral if enough people bought it. Right now, it sounds as if that’s going to be very likely.

DOWNLOADING GAMES ON XBOX 360: On the Microsoft side, the Xbox 360 update is getting more excited as we get closer to its release. The biggest feature I’m looking forward to is the Games on Demand lineup. At least 21 games will be available for digital distribution and they include Assassin’s Creed, Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Prey (ah, I remember that game). I’m all for prettifying your avatar and more movies, but I’m more excite about downloading games I’ve missed. Looking forward to getting the update Aug. 11.

NEW FOOTBALL GAME: Lastly, EA had a conference call recently and they announced something Madden Arcade. It’s going to be a downloadable title that’s said to be similar to EA’s 3 on 3 NHL Arcade, according to ShackNews. It’s also coming later this holiday season.

One of the more interesting ideas creator Shigeru Miyamoto mentioned during his E3 roundtable was Woohoo Island. It’s the name he’s given to the setting of Wii Sports Resort. Those who have eagle eyes will notice that the fictional place is the same area you run inWii Fit.

Both games have the same lighthouse and windmills. I suppose this is Miyamoto’s Yoknapatawpha County. It’s the idea of a setting recurring throughout games and being as important as a character.

I had a chance to spend some time in Miyamoto’s fictional island playing a few games in the upcoming Wii Sports Resort, the follow-up to Wii Sports. The sequel sports new games like basketball, swordplay and table tennis, but the big change is the Wii Motion Plus, a new peripheral that adds more fidelity to the Wii’s motion-sensing technology. It tracks one-to-one movement so that players can actually aim a bow and arrow or move a virtual skydiver and see the results perfectly translated on screen.

Although today was a super hectic day, I did get to play around a bit. As you might expect, playing a demo game on Project Natal was easily the highlight.

I got to play Ricochet, a game where you throw, kick, bump or head butt a ball at blocks to destroy them. It was pretty awesome to play without using any controllers. The system recognized when I swatted at the ball or moved from side to side to block it.

What was even more cool was that it recognized when I tried to put a top, bottom or side spin on the ball, changing the ball’s trajectory accordingly. Continue Reading →

There is an official price and release date for the Wii MotionPlus, the add-on to the Wii Remote that makes it work like you thought it would in the first place. That date is June 8, and that price is $20. Which is relatively soon and somewhat reasonable.

But wait! What good is the MotionPlus without, you know, a game that supports it? It doesn’t add anything to existing games after all. Well about that…Wii Sports Resort, the awesome game I previewed at E3 that actually makes use of the add-on, comes out over a month later on July 26 for $50 with a MotionPlus included.

What I’m saying here is just wait until late July. Staring at the unutilized potential of the MotionPlus for over a month would drive most people insane.

Update: A couple people have pointed out that it’s not, in the strictest sense, useless for that whole span. There are a couple third party titles coming out between June 8 and July 26 that are going to use the MotionPlus, for example Gieson pointed out the new Tiger Woods.

But my point still stands since, using the same example, Tiger Woods ships on the 15th, leaving a full week of uselessness. So I stand by my “Might as well just wait until July.” position.

Update 2: From MTV Multiplayer’s Twitter: “I was wrong. Sega’s Virtual Tennis for Wii, which ships May 19, will support MotionPlus. The June 8 MP early-adopters are ok after all”

This whole thing makes me wonder about Nintendo’s PR and marketing. Nobody seemed to know what games support the thing until after the release date’s announcement. Isn’t the goal to generate buzz then make the big reveal?

Remember the Wii MotionPlus? The attachment to the Wiimote that makes it behave like everyone expected it to in the first place, smoothly tracking what your hand is doing and translating it with astounding precision? Well, looks like it’s delayed.

Nothing official has been announced yet, but the signs are there. For one Wii Sports Resort, home of the oddly addictive Frisbee-throwing game and the satisfying swordfight simulator, has dropped off Nintendo’s release calendar. And for another IGN’s Wii podcast says it’s delayed due to “a few hiccups” which is a bit of a clue.

It would be a shame since I was looking forward to spending countless hours throwing a virtual Frisbee to a dog (I’m not being sarcastic, it really was that much fun) but I’d rather they get it right.